. >>> we heard so much in this economy how cities have to cut services. the east st. louis fire department have to cut services to a degree you won't believe. there's a video that demonstrates it. this is from east st. louis. they have had it closed since 1988. a few years ago, they had 150 firefighters. currently, they have 53. in may, they may have to lay off 22 of them. now the national fire protection association recommends to respond to a house fire, they want five engines, two chiefs and 15 firefighters. currently, they have two engines and six firefighters. this video was put together to demonstrate the effect of having stations closed and not having enough firefighters to respond. later in the video, they have video from a helmet cam that captures some of what firefighters do. ♪ >> we contacted city leaders of st. louis to see what they are doing to respond to this budget crisis. we have yet to hear from them as of press time. via skype, we have the fire captain to talk to us. tell us what it's like to fight a house fire with the manpower you have right now.